Washington State Hits 8 Million Residents For The First Time

I don't know about you, but in the circles, I move in population growth in Washington state is not a topic that pops up very often. But when you look at the results of the most recent US Census, you see that population is actually up in Washington state. 

According to seattletimes.com,
‘Washington state crossed a population milestone in the latest Census Bureau estimates: As of July 1, 2025, the state had 8 million residents for the first time. The population estimate, to be precise, was 8,001,020. Washington remained the 13th most populous state.
Washington hit this milestone due to a year of solid growth. From July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, the state’s population increased by about 73,000 people, or just under 1%.’ 

There are certainly lots of factors that could be involved here, not the least of which is the economic climate for new jobs, especially in the tech industry, even though there's been massive layoffs over the last half year, this is still one of the states where tech rules. 

Who went where?

If you look at the list of states that had the highest population growth and this last US census, Washington state shows up at #6, but Texas is coming out at #1. Over 391,000 people moved to Texas during the last census. 

California shows up with the largest decline in population with around 9000 residents moving out. 

If you look at what the census is calling “natural change” to the population of Washington state, that is up as well. Natural change is what's defined as deaths and births in the state and Washington state was up by about 17,000 over the last census. Washington state picked up about 55,000 residents through migration (Both domestic and international) 

What about migration?

North Carolina was the state that scored big with domestic migration picking up about 84,000 residents from other states in the US. They also scored big in international migration adding about 46,000 residents. 

If you look at the numbers spanning from 2020 to 2025, Washington state added several 100,000 residents in that time span.